The Daniel Library acknowledges the generosity of the O'Flaherty family and the expert stewardship of Professor Albert E. Gurganus in transferring this splendid collection to The Citadel.

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Questions and comments about the collections may be directed to [mailto:elizabeth.connor@citadel.edu?subject=oflaherty Elizabeth Connor], Associate Professor.

Current revision as of 12:23, 15 July 2010

FINDING AID

Papers of James C O'Flaherty (1914-2002)

Collection: Papers of James C O'Flaherty (1914-2002), complementing the James C O'Flaherty Collection of Hamanniana and Nietzscheana (ca 200 books) accessioned by The Citadel's Daniel Library.
Together they constitute the largest holding of writings by or on the philosopher Johann Georg Hamann outside of Germany.

Acquisition: Given by J Daniel O'Flaherty (son of James C O'Flaherty) of Alexandria VA.

Nota bene. James C O'Flaherty gave two boxes of papers, mainly correspondence, to the University of Chicago in Oct 1992. A catalog of those papers, compiled by Caroline Coven of Regenstein Library, is filed in Box A, Folder "Correspondence with University of Chicago re O'Flaherty Papers" of The Citadel's James C O'Flaherty Papers.

Provenance, Content, Arrangement: The son of Irish-American attorney and activist Daniel C O'Flaherty of Richmond VA, James Carneal O'Flaherty was born 28 Apr 1914 in Henrico County. After graduation from Richmond's John Marshall High School, he studied at William and Mary, Heidelberg Universität, Georgetown College (BA, 1939), Southern Baptist Seminary, the University of Kentucky (MA, 1941), and the University of Chicago (PhD,1950). His doctoral dissertation treated the German philosopher Johann Georg Hamann (1730-88). O'Flaherty served 1939-47 as pastor to Baptist churches in Dover KY, Ekhorn KY, and Chicago IL.

In 1947 O'Flaherty joined the faculty of Wake Forest College, where he taught until retirement in 1984. There he founded the Hamann Newsletter; wrote on Hamann, Nietzsche, the German literary tradition, and Hitler's intellectual opponents; chaired the German department; and championed study of the Humanities in the US. His publications include Unity and Language: A Study in the Philosophy of Hamann (1952), Hamann's Socratic Memorabilia: A Translation and Commentary (1967), Johann Georg Hamann (1979), Studies in Nietzsche and the Classical Tradition (1976), and Studies in Nietzsche and the Judaeo-Christian Tradition (1984), The Quarrel with Reason Itself: Essays on Hamann, Michaelis, Lessing, Nietzsche (1988).

The James C O'Flaherty Papers chronicle the professional life of an internationally acclaimed authority on German philosophy and intellectual history. The Papers contain copious correspondence with prominent authors (eg, Thomas Mann, Ernst Jünger), scholars (eg, Werner Heisenberg, Isaiah Berlin, Walter Kaufmann), publishers, colleagues, and college officials; manuscripts and print copy of writings, lectures, sermons, editorials; photocopies and microfilm of works by other scholars on topics touching O'Flaherty's work; O'Flaherty's reviews of other scholars' work; scholarly reviews of his own work; reviews of works pertinent to O'Flaherty's research interests (many with
his autograph notes in the margins); notebooks on diverse topics; extensive bibliographical references; miscellaneous press clippings. Of particular significance to scholars are the unpublished correspondence and the assembled material on Hamann and on Nietzsche.

In retirement O'Flaherty began to order his papers, eventually assisted by Wake Forest undergraduate John Betts. Upon O'Flaherty's death on 27 Jul 2002 in Winston-Salem NC, his son assembled both the Collection and the Papers for donation to a suitable library and archive. On advice from James N Hardin, James O'Flaherty's editor at Camden House, Daniel O'Flaherty offered the Collection and Papers to The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, in Charleston, where James O'Flaherty's former student Albert E Gurganus chaired the Department of Modern Languages.

A trained archivist, Gurganus arranged and cataloged the Papers, which arrived in Charleston in disarray, file folders jumbled in pasteboard shipping boxes. Wherever discernible, the original ordering technique was preserved. For that reason some correspondence occurs in reverse chronology. The finding aid was completed 7 Jun 2010.

Catalog

Box A
Papers pertaining to the establishment of the James C O'Flaherty Collections at The Citadel
(Auto)biographical and professional files, mss, and notices
Eulogies of James C O'Flaherty
List of publications of James C O'Flaherty
Mss of James C O'Flaherty's graduate term papers at Chicago
Printed sermon "Christ the Builder of Men"
Articles for church publications
Articles, editorials for Wake Forest College/University publications
Eulogy for former student Betty Nance Weber
Ms of "Informal Report on My Penultimate Year at Wake Forest"
Ms of address to Wake Forest chapter of AAUP, April 1958
Program of Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, April 1959

Box F
Reviews
Evaluations and reviews of other scholars' work by O'Flaherty
Evaluations and reviews of O'Flaherty's work
Reviews of various scholars' work on Hamann, arranged alphabetically by author

Box G
Hamann papers 1
Catalog of "Books, Other Publications and Materials Relating to Johann Georg Hamann (1730-1788) Collected by James C O'Flaherty"
Complete run of O'Flaherty's Hamann Newsletter (1953-55, 1962-63)
Mss for publication in the Hamann Newsletter
Correspondence pertaining to the Hamann Newsletter
Reviews of the Hamann Newsletter
Mss of various works on Hamann by O'Flaherty
O'Flaherty's notes on Hamann and his relation to other philosophers

Box N
Nietzsche papers 1
Correspondence with editors of, contributors to Studies in Nietzsche and the Classical Tradition (edited by O'Flaherty), arranged in reverse chronology
Reviews of Studies in Nietzsche and the Classical Tradition
Correspondence with editors of Studies in Nietzsche and the Judaeo-Christian Tradition,
arranged in reverse chronology
Print copy of various scholars' writings on Nietzsche, arranged alphabetically by author or journal (A-G): Alderman-Groos